PerlPlay has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have the following code but it's telling me every directory is empty... Is it possible to get this to actually work to find empty directories or do I have to use open dir etc? 

#!/usr/bin/perl
# emptydir
# Checks for empty directories
# Ver 0.1 Nov 2013 

use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Find;

my $drive = 'C:/Temp/';
my @empty;
my $ndirs = undef;
my $dsize = undef;

find(\&listing, $drive);
#Do stuff here

foreach my $files (@empty) {
    print "Found empty folder $files\n";
    }
print "Found $ndirs folders in total\n";
    
sub listing{

if (-d $File::Find::name) {
    my $dsize = (stat($File::Find::name))[7];
    if ($dsize == 0) {
        push @empty, $File::Find::name;
        }
     $ndirs++;
    }
}

[download]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Can File:Find be used to find empty dirs?
by Kenosis (Priest) on Nov 20, 2013 at 06:21 UTC

    Consider using File::Find::Rule::DirectoryEmpty which inherits File::Find::Rule to recursively find empty directories:

    use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Find::Rule::DirectoryEmpty;
        
my $dir = 'C:/Temp/';
my @emptydirs = File::Find::Rule->directoryempty->in($dir);
print "$_\n" for @emptydirs;

    [download]

    Hope this helps!

[reply]
[d/l]

      Thanks for the code looks simple enough, I'll just have to convince IT to install that module. Thanks to reply above this one too.

[reply]

        You're most welcome, PerlPlay!

[reply]
Re: Can File:Find be used to find empty dirs?
by dasgar (Priest) on Nov 20, 2013 at 06:01 UTC

    I would recommend checking out File::Find::Rule, which includes the ability to easily check if the "file" is a directory and if it is empty.

[reply]
Re: Can File:Find be used to find empty dirs?
by 2teez (Vicar) on Nov 20, 2013 at 09:03 UTC

    Hi PerlPlay,
    Of course you can still use File::Find modifying your code like so: 

    use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Find;

my $drive = $ARGV[0];
my @empty;
my $ndirs = 0;

find( \&listing, $drive );

#Do stuff here

foreach my $files (@empty) {
    print "Found empty folder $files\n";
}
print "Found $ndirs folders in total\n";

sub listing {

    return if /^\.{1,}/;

    if (-d) {
        my $number_of_files = grep $_ => glob("$_/*");
        if ( $number_of_files == 0 ) {
            push @empty, $File::Find::name;
            $ndirs++;
        }
    }
}

    [download]
    Though it might not be as effective and as clean as what was perilously mentioned. Need I say, this was not tested on window OS.

    If you tell me, I'll forget.
    If you show me, I'll remember.
    if you involve me, I'll understand.
    --- Author unknown to me
[reply]
[d/l]

      I've managed to test your code this morning and it works fine under Windows.

      Appreciate your effort.

[reply]

        You are welcome, Sir!!

        If you tell me, I'll forget.
        If you show me, I'll remember.
        if you involve me, I'll understand.
        --- Author unknown to me
[reply]

      Thanks I'll give that a go.

[reply]

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